nst me--against me--against me! Avaunt! A man's no match for ye.
Ye have all! Lost again! No; here--stop. On the next card, I stake
myself--my ship--my'--

'Stop!' shouted old Bartholomew. He had been standing at the foot of
the companion, and he burst into the cabin. 'Stop, Captain Goss, in
the name of God!'

Goss turned round to him. His face was so like the Evil One's that we
did not look for any other. Then a brass-mounted pistol--a shot--and
rolling smoke: all passed in a minute. Then the captain flung a card
upon the table, and with a yell like a wild beast, shouted out:
'Lost!' fell over the cards, extinguished the lamp; and we neither
heard nor saw more, till there came a shuffling on the companion, and
Bartholomew crawled out with his face all blackened by the powder, and
the blood trickling from his cheek, where the ball had grazed it. We
all went for'ard, mates, and had a long palaver, and resolved to go
ashore at daybreak, and leave a doomed captain and a doomed ship. But
we didn't know our man. In the gray of the morning, we heard the
handspike rattle on the hatch, and we tumbled up one after the other.
The captain was there, looking much as usual, but only paler.

'Man the windlass,' says he.

'We're going ashore, sir,' says Bartholomew firmly.

'How?' says the captain.

'In the boat,' says Bartholomew.

'Are you?' says Goss: 'look at her!' He had cut her adrift, and she
was a mile off.

'And now,' says Goss, 'I was drunk last night, and frightened
you--playing tricks with cards. Don't be fools; do your duty, and defy
Davy Jones. If not'--And then he flung open his pea-coat, and we saw
four of the brass-mounted pistols in his belt. But, mates, his one eye
was worse than the four muzzles, and we slunk to our work, and obeyed
him. The easterly breeze came fresh, and we were soon bowling away
nor'ard. The captain stood long at the helm, and we gathered for'ard.
'We're lost!' said Bartholomew; 'we're lost men! We're bought and
sold!'

'Bartholomew,' shouts the captain, 'come and take the helm!' He went
aft, mates, like a lamb; and the captain walked for'ards, and looked
at us, one after another; and the one eye cowed us. We were not like
men; and he was our master. When he went below, we grouped together,
and looked out to windward. It was getting black--black; the wind was
coming off in gusts; and the _Lively Nan_ began to dance to the seas
that came rolling in from the eastward. 'The equinoctial!